Bears don’t expect Pernell McPhee to be the same player he once was

When the Bears signed Pernell McPhee to a five-year, $38.8 million contract in 2015, they thought they were getting one of the best linebackers in football. It hasn’t worked out that way.

McPhee has injured both knees since arriving in Chicago and last year played just 25 percent of the Bears’ defensive snaps. This year the Bears are preparing for him to be similarly limited, and today defensive coordinator Vic Fangio admitted that it’s “probably not” realistic to expect McPhee to be the kind of player he was in Baltimore in 2014, when a 7.5-sack season convinced the Bears to sign him to a big-money contract.

Fangio also said the team’s medical staff told him that McPhee should be on a limited snap count, suggesting that there are concerns about his ability to handle the workload of being anything more than a situational player.

The Bears are paying McPhee more than $7 million this season, but next year they can cut him with only a $1 million cap hit. So McPhee is likely heading into his final season in Chicago.

6 responses to “Bears don’t expect Pernell McPhee to be the same player he once was”

A true vocal leader. A powerful voice in the locker room talking about things. An inspiration to his teammates and a man whose voice is so influential and nasty that one can hear him all of the way from the training room.

And neither will Danny Trevathan.
The 49ers took that extra pick they suckered Ryan Pace out of and used it to move back into the 1st round to draft Reuben Foster.
Any reason why the Bears could not have done the very same kind of move and still gotten Trubisky with the 3rd overall pick?

Most cops are not good people. They have absolutely no problem dishing it out but all of a sudden become really thin skinned when the tables are turned and someone criticizes them or calls them out. They’re super tough guys when they have a gun to your head or have you in handcuffs but in any other situation not so much